A space module carrying China's first lunar rover has landed on the moon, marking a major step for the country's ambitious space program.

Scientists burst into applause as a computer-generated image representing the spacecraft was seen landing on the moon's surface via screens at a Beijing control centre, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) showed.

Hours later the rover was deployed, with China's Aerospace Control Centre saying it had "touched the lunar surface".

The rover will spend about three months exploring the moon and looking for natural resources.

State television station CCTV tweeted an image that it said showed the rover separating from the landing craft at 4:35am Beijing time.

The Chang'e 3, a probe named after a lunar goddess in Chinese mythology, blasted off on a Long March-3B carrier rocket on December 2.

It is carrying the solar-powered Yutu, or Jade Rabbit rover.

China follows US, Russia in deploying moon rovers

The Chang'e-3 probe touched down on an ancient 400-kilometre wide plain known in Latin as Sinus Iridum, or The Bay of Rainbows.

The landing was previously described as the "most difficult" part of the mission by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in a post on Chang'e 3's microblogging page on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter equivalent.

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The probe used sensors and 3D imaging to identify a flat surface. Thrusters were then deployed 100 metres from the lunar surface to gently guide the craft into position.

China is the third country to carry out a rover mission, following the United States and former Soviet Union, which also made the last soft landing on the moon 37 years ago.

The landing is a major step in an ambitious space program which is seen as a symbol of China's rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as the Communist Party's success in reversing the fortunes of the once impoverished nation.

It comes a decade after the country first sent an astronaut into space and ahead of plans to establish a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send a human to the moon.